Probably the most germane of all of the recollections came from Lawrence Murphy, who went on to become the president of Seton Hall University; Murphy was serving onboard USS Enterprise at the time. Enterprise was deployed at the time of the attack and arrived in Pearl Harbor the next day:
“Dear Cliff, I was attached to the carrier Enterprise (the old one) and we had been delivering planes to Midway. We were returning to Pearl when the attack took place and we arrived off the base more than 24 hours later.
As usual, we sent our planes in to land ashore and in the confusion some of the planes were fired upon by American gunners. As I recall, two were shot down.
When we did enter the harbor, the scene of devastation was terrible — fires still burning and destruction everywhere! We knew that many of our classmates, friends and shipmates were dead or wounded, and I suppose that anyone who experienced those days will never be able to forget them. I hope not to see the like again in my lifetime.”
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